Vol. 498 No. 6
9 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Finance when he will receive the report of the working group on Irish registered non-resident companies and be in a position to bring proposals to Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28031/98]
The House will be aware from previous questions on this issue that detailed discussions have been ongoing for some time, involving my Department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Revenue Commissioners, with a view to bringing forward proposals to address problems arising from the use of Irish registered non-resident companies.
In my budget speech, I indicated that a package of measures to deal effectively with the problem was close to finalisation. This package will now be submitted to the Government very shortly so that it can be announced with the publication of the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 1998, which is nearing completion.
The use of this country by Irish registered non-resident companies for money laundering, depositing proceeds of fraud and tax evasion abroad has been given a great deal of consideration in the past year. How many of the companies are registered in this country? There were reports earlier in the year that up to 40,000 companies are registered here.
I do not have that information nor is it possible for me to provide it. As I said in previous replies to parliamentary questions and on Committee Stage of the Finance Bill, it is not possible to even make an estimate. I said on Committee Stage that the figure of 40,000 Irish registered non-resident companies was reproduced in an Irish newspaper. Through research in my Department, we discovered it was based on an article in a British tax journal, which I outlined to the committee. The same article had been featured in another tax journal some months earlier. In the absence of any contradiction from the Irish newspaper, I assume it took the figure of 40,000 from that article. I read out the details of the article, which did not give a basis for the figure. There is no basis for the figure. It may be a great deal less or a great deal more. We do not know.
There has been some discussion between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Finance on the type of measures which should be introduced. Will the Bill dealing with this be introduced by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment? Assuming the answer is yes, can we take it from that that the proposals will not relate to the tax status of these companies?
No. As I outlined in previous replies and a special debate, it will be a combination of a change in company tax law and possibly the Finance Bill. The range of measures will be announced when the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 1998, is brought before the House. Some changes may be necessary in next year's Finance Bill.
